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'''Hinduism''' is the fourth largest religion in the world<ref>The largest being Christianity, Islam, Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist, and Hinduism, in that order[http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html]</ref>. Hinduism is the first [[Dharmic religion]]. It can be called "the religion of India;" about 800 million of the world's 1000 million Hindus live in India, and about 80 percent of Indians are Hindus.<ref>[http://www.censusindia.net/religiondata/Brief_analysis.pdf Census of India, religion data, brief analysis (PDF)]; "At the national level, of 1028 million population, 828 million (80.5 percent) have returned their religion as Hindus followed by 138 million (13.4 percent) as Muslims and 24 millions (2.3 percent) Christians. 19 million (1.9 percent) persons follow Sikh religion; 8 million (0.8 percent) are Buddhists and 4.2 million (0.4 percent) are Jains as per the 2001 Census. In addition to these, 6.6 million belong to ‘Other Religions and Persuasions’ including tribal religions which are not part of the six main religions stated above. About seven lakh (or 0.7 million) persons have not stated their  

'''Hinduism''' is the fourth largest religion in the world<ref>The largest being [[Christianity]], [[Islam]], Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist, and Hinduism, in that order[http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html]</ref>. Hinduism is the first [[Dharmic religion]]. It can be called "the religion of India;" about 800 million of the world's 1000 million Hindus live in India, and about 80 percent of Indians are Hindus.<ref>[http://www.censusindia.net/religiondata/Brief_analysis.pdf Census of India, religion data, brief analysis (PDF)]; "At the national level, of 1028 million population, 828 million (80.5 percent) have returned their religion as Hindus followed by 138 million (13.4 percent) as Muslims and 24 millions (2.3 percent) Christians. 19 million (1.9 percent) persons follow Sikh religion; 8 million (0.8 percent) are Buddhists and 4.2 million (0.4 percent) are Jains as per the 2001 Census. In addition to these, 6.6 million belong to ‘Other Religions and Persuasions’ including tribal religions which are not part of the six main religions stated above. About seven lakh (or 0.7 million) persons have not stated their  

religion."</ref>

religion."</ref>

6. Unlike most other religions, Hinduism is not defined by a specific set of philosophical concepts.  

6. Unlike most other religions, Hinduism is not defined by a specific set of philosophical concepts.  

7. Belief in one god. Contrary to popular belief, Hinduism is not a [[polytheism|polytheistic]] religion.  The Vedas, the primary Hindu holy scriptures states that there is only one God but can manifest in many forms.  This is the reason why there are many deities.  A common example used to explain this is that an individual can be called different names depending on the relationship has with another.  A man can be a son to his parents, a nephew to his uncle, a father to his son, and a husband to his wife all at the same time.  None of these different relationships suggest multiple people but rather different aspects of one person.  The same is applied to God in Hinduism, which has no form and is infinite.  Hindus may call God, Paratman (Supreme Soul), Brahmana (Eternal Spirit), or Ishvara (Supreme Lord).  Deities have various names but represent aspects of God that manifest in the world.  For example Agni (fire, Divine spark), Vayu (wind, or breath which could mean life force, Indra (in mythology king of gods but also refers to the senses such as vision, hearing, touch, taste), and Lakshmi (fortune).

7. Belief in one god. Contrary to popular belief, Hinduism is not a [[polytheism|polytheistic]] religion.  The Vedas, the primary Hindu holy scriptures states that there is only one [[God]] but can manifest in many forms.  This is the reason why there are many deities.  A common example used to explain this is that an individual can be called different names depending on the relationship has with another.  A man can be a son to his parents, a nephew to his uncle, a father to his son, and a husband to his wife all at the same time.  None of these different relationships suggest multiple people but rather different aspects of one person.  The same is applied to God in Hinduism, which has no form and is infinite.  Hindus may call God, Paratman (Supreme Soul), Brahmana (Eternal Spirit), or Ishvara (Supreme Lord).  Deities have various names but represent aspects of God that manifest in the world.  For example Agni (fire, Divine spark), Vayu (wind, or breath which could mean life force, Indra (in mythology king of gods but also refers to the senses such as vision, hearing, touch, taste), and Lakshmi (fortune).

 

For more on Hinduism, see [[World History Lecture Three]].

For more on Hinduism, see [[World History Lecture Three]].